Preparations for war
by JordieFan
Summary: AU sixth year. Begins summer after fifth year. Following the death of his godfather Harry takes a hard look at his life. Seeing Dumbledore's manipulations for the first time he makes a hard choice. Dark Independant Harry.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Choosing a side

**Author: **JordieFan

**Rating: **PG-15

**Summary: **AU sixth year. Begins summer after fifth year. Harry is devastated over the loss of his Godfather and he places the blame on Dumbledore and his manipulations. He decides to take the war into his own hands. Dark independent Harry.

**Pairings: **Harry/Tonks (main) Harry/multiple pairing

**Warnings: **Slightly AU, language, violence, angst, DarkHarry

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Harry Potter. It is the property of JK Rowling and various publishers.

**Chapter 1: Happy Holidays**

Harry Potter sat on his bed, staring blankly at the plain white walls of his small bedroom. He had barely left his room at all since arriving back at the Dursley's after the disastrous ending to his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Mainly, he spent his time paging disinterestedly through his various schoolbooks or, more commonly, wallowing in despair about the loss of Sirius.

Throughout this brooding, however, Harry had found himself reflecting seriously on the cause of his Godfathers death. He thought about the previous year and how stupid he'd been to blindly rush off to the ministry despite all of his friend's warnings. He thought about Snape and how the bastard had constantly taunted Sirius about being useless, which had indirectly led to him leaving the house. And how when Harry had told Snape that Voldemort had Sirius, the greasy bastard had taken hours to alert the Order. And he thought about Dumbledore. Dumbledore, who in Harry's opinion was just as much at fault in Sirius death as Voldemort himself. Had the old man not left Harry in the dark about the prophecy, none of this would have happened!

Anger quickly began surfacing in Harry and he stood up, picking up the transfiguration book that had lay beside him on the bed and hurled it at the wall. It made a satisfying bang that echoed throughout the entire house. He distantly heard Uncle Vernon swearing downstairs, but thankfully, the fat idiot didn't come up. None of the Dursley's dared to punish him for fear that Mad Eye Moody would pay a house call.

The anger was gone a moment later though, replaced by the more familiar bone deep sadness that threatened to bring tears to his eyes. But he refused to cry anymore. He had shed enough tears over the last couple of weeks to last him a lifetime. And besides, Harry did not think that Sirius would want him to spend all of his time grieving.

With a sigh he sat down on his bed and prepared to start staring listlessly at his wall again, but the swish of wings and a loud hoot distracted him. He turned to the window in time to see Hedwig swoop in from her evening hunt and managed a small smile when she landed next to him.

"Hey girl," he murmured softly, gently stroking her brilliant white feathers. She hooted again, this time in a sort of questioning manner as though to enquire if he was alright. "Don't worry about me Hedwig, I'll be fine. I just need some more time I think."

Hedwig hooted softly in understanding and Harry smiled again. His friends had always thought it a bit odd that he spoke to his owl as though she could understand him, but to Harry it was the most natural thing in the world. She was, after all, the only living creature that could stand the sight of him when he was at the Dursley's.

He was broken out of his reverie when Hedwig pecked at his arm and held out her leg. Looking down, Harry finally noticed the letters that she held. Relieving them from Hedwig he gave her a couple of owl treats before studying them. It seemed that there was one each from Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the twins.

For the first time since getting back to the Dursley's two weeks ago, Harry felt a small amount of happiness stirring in his chest. Deciding to open the letter from his best mate first, Harry grabbed Ron's letter from the pile and eagerly ripped open the envelope.

_Hey mate,_

_How are you, Harry? I hope those Muggles are leaving you alone. If their not, just write to Moody. If he can't set them straight, then nothing can. Anyway, sorry that this is the first time I've sent you a letter mate, but Dumbledore forbid us from sending you any mail. He said something about the owl's being tracked. But then Hedwig showed up and wouldn't stop pecking us until we had all wrote you something. Bloody smart owl, that one._

_I've been getting on mum's case about getting you away from those Muggles but she says that Dumbledore will get you out of there when it's safe. Hopefully it won't be too long, yeah? Hermione sent me an owl a few days ago as well and it sounds like she's worked herself up into quite a state worrying about you. I told her to give you a break but I don't think that she'll listen. Mental, that one is._

_See you soon._

_Ron_

Harry crumpled Ron's letter up in his fist, his happiness evaporating quickly to be replaced by the same anger at Dumbledore as before. So he had forbid everyone from writing to him had he?That old bastard! What right did he have to keep on controlling every aspect of Harry's life like this? Hadn't he learnt anything from last year?

His breathing was coming raggedly and his fists were clenched at his sides. Slowly, Harry began to control his breathing and unclenched his fists. Putting his head in his hands, he continued to breathe deeply until the anger was at a controllable level. He couldn't do anything about the growing resentment though. Not that he wanted to do anything about it, to be honest. Dumbledore deserved his resentment after everything that he had put Harry through. A bitter laugh escaped his throat. And the old man wanted Harry to trust him! For someone as intelligent as Dumbledore, the man sure didn't know how to engender trust.

Glancing down at the letters still laying next to him, he picked up the one sent by Hermione. Ripping it open he began to read.

_Dear Harry,_

_Boy was I surprised when Hedwig showed up at my window and half pecked me to death until I wrote you! I was ever so glad though. I've been desperately worried about you. How are you? Are you eating okay? I know that you must be feeling dreadful but I read somewhere that when you're depressed, talking to someone can help. You know that I'll always be available if you need a friend to talk to Harry._

_Before you get angry at me, just think about it okay? You can't do this alone. You need your friends by your side. Anyway, I'll see about sending you a copy of a self help guide so that you can get through this if you like._

_Please write back soon. I would love to hear from you._

_Love, from _

_Hermione_

Harry snorted in disbelief after he had finished reading. A self help guide? _Really? _Hermione desperately needed to learn that some things just couldn't be solved by opening a book.

And the constant nudges to _talk _did not help either. How could she possibly understand what he was feeling right now? She hadn't just lost the only parental figure that she had ever known. Still, Harry knew that it was just her way of showing that she cared about him and he couldn't fault her for that.

Glancing at the last two letters Harry shook his head. He was no longer in the mood to read any more letters from anyone.

Sighing softly he made his way across the small, bare room and kicked open his trunk. Grabbing some parchment and a quill along with his old charms text, he decided he may as well get started on some of his essays. It wasn't like he had anything better to do.

He had progressed halfway through the introduction on the relative fluidity of cheering charms when a great ball of fire exploded in the air beside him.

Harry yelled in shock and tumbled backwards off his chair, to land with a thump on the hard floorboards of his room. Cursing violently he scrambled to his feet, eyes roving around for the source of the attack when he suddenly realized that a letter had dropped out of the fireball. For several seconds he stared in uncomprehending silence at the letter, before he recognized the slanted handwriting as being Dumbledore's.

Realizing that the old man had sent him a letter via phoenix, his face heated in embarrassment at his undignified reaction. Hoping that it was not Moody currently on "Potter watch" as he called it, he picked up the letter and read it warily.

_Ah, Harry, it has come to my attention that your friends have sent you several letters thanks to your rather remarkable owl. While I'm sure that your owl and friends had only the best of intentions, I'm afraid that this cannot happen again. It simply is not safe I'm afraid._

_Now, I trust that you will understand, Harry that I am not to be disobeyed on this point. I have only your best interests at heart and this truly is for the best. Do not worry about your friends, my dear boy, I will send them similar letters explaining to them why you were unable to respond. I'm sure they will understand._

_And now, onto other matters. I will be paying your home a visit tomorrow at around 2.00 o'clock. We have some serious issues to discuss, no pun intended of course. I will also inform you of the arrangements for the remainder of your summer then._

_Sincerely,_

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

Harry felt a strange mixture of emotions as he finished reading Dumbledore's letter. There was definitely more anger as the old man had just banned any contact from his friends. But Harry also felt some hope. Dumbledore had said that when he came over tomorrow they would discuss his summer arrangements. Maybe, Harry thought hopefully, he would be able to spend the rest of the summer at the Burrow.

One thing was for sure. Harry was not going to let Dumbledore control every aspect of his life anymore. He would not be manipulated into being the old man's good little golden boy! He would have to be subtle, though. As last year had proven, yelling and raging did no good. If Dumbledore tried to manipulate him, he would play along and act the part, then when he left Harry would consider his options carefully and make his own choice.

With that decided, Harry got into bed. He would need to be well rested and have a clear mind to see through the old man's schemes. His last thought before sleep was that Dumbledore would learn not to mess with him!

**Authors note:**

**Well there's the first chapter. I know that it was a slow start but it will get better soon I promise. Also the later chapters will be longer as this one was really just an introduction more than anything.**

**Next chapter will be the meeting with Dumbledore! Till next time!**

**JordieFan**


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Preparations for war

**Author: **JordieFan

**Summary: **AU sixth year. Begins summer after fifth year. Following the death of his godfather Harry takes a hard look at his life. Seeing Dumbledore's manipulations for the first time he makes a hard choice. Dark independent Harry.

**Pairings: **Harry/Tonks (main) Harry/multiple pairing

**Warnings: **Slightly AU, language, violence, angst, DarkHarry

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Harry Potter. It is the property of JK Rowling and various publishers.

**Chapter 2: Visit with Dumbledore**

Harry stared anxiously at his watch. It said 1:56, which meant that Dumbledore should be arriving any minute. He was pacing his room, going over what he would say to Dumbledore one more time before he arrived. Unfortunately, he wasn't as rested as he would have liked since he had woken up at 4 last night after another vivid nightmare of Sirius falling through the veil, and he hadn't been able to get back to sleep since.

Shaking his head to banish his thoughts, he finally heard the light knock on his door. He stopped pacing abruptly and took a deep breath to settle his nerves. After all, the last time that he had seen the man, he had practically destroyed his damn office.

_Here goes nothing_, Harry thought before quickly rushing down the stairs and pulling open the front door.

Dumbledore stood there in all his glory, long white beard, half moon spectacles, twinkling blue eyes and, of course, an absolutely hideous yellow suit that had little crescent moons stitched up the sleeves.

"Ah, Harry my dear boy, excellent to see you. I must say you look well."

Harry suppressed a snort. _Well? I look as though I'm half starved, I'm pale enough to be a vampire and I'm wearing clothes that are at least three times too large for me! Probably not too smart to say that though._

"Thank you, sir," Harry replied with a slightly forced smile. "You look … Ah … Colorful."

Dumbledore chuckled, and his eyes twinkled merrily. "May I come in my boy?"

"Of course, Sir."

Harry moved aside and Dumbledore ambled in, walking over to the couch in the living room. "Are your relatives home by any chance, Harry? I should like to speak to them as well."

"No Sir, they left a few hours ago."

At this, Dumbledore's gaze sharpened and he turned to regard Harry more seriously. "I trust you told them that I was going to be paying a visit Harry?"

Harry found himself involuntarily nervous under that sharp gaze and sat down opposite Dumbledore uncomfortably. He thought about it for a second, before he realized that Dumbledore would almost certainly see through any lie that he attempted and so he really had no choice but to tell the truth.

"No Sir, I didn't."

Dumbledore's wrinkled old face showed clearly his disappointment.

"That was very irresponsible of you Harry. Surely you knew that Mr. and Mrs. Dursley would appreciate knowing that I would be arriving." He paused for a moment, and Harry felt his own anger begin to boil. How dare the old man lecture him! But remembering the promise that he had made to keep his temper, he ruthlessly forced his anger back down and tried to look repentant. He wasn't sure that he had done such a good job but a moment later Dumbledore continued so Harry assumed that he had not noticed anything.

"However what's done is done, no use making a fuss about it now I suppose. I can speak to your relatives some other time, but for now we shall get right on to business!" He declared in a brisk tone. Harry noticed with annoyance that the ever-present twinkle was back in full force.

"Right, Harry, due to the terrible events at the Ministry last month we found ourselves with a bit of a problem. You see, with Sirius' death the black inheritance was left in a rather shaky positi-"

"Wait a minute," Harry cut in furiously, all thoughts of maintaining a polite attitude flying out of his head. "Sirius _died_ and all you can think about is some damn _money_!" He hissed in incredulous rage. "How _dare _yo_-"_

"Harry!" Dumbledore interrupted him in a sharp voice. "If you allow me to finish, you will see that it is not merely some money that I am worried about."

Harry remained furious, but grudgingly held his silence allowing the Headmaster to explain himself.

With a small nod of gratitude Dumbledore began. "You see Harry; with Sirius gone the title of Lord Black should legally fall to his closest male blood relation, who in this case would be young Mr. Malfoy. Now, this would be disastrous for the Order, because along with the title of Lord Black, Mr. Malfoy would inherit not only Sirius impressive wealth but also all properties belonging to the Blacks." Here, Dumbledore shot Harry a rather pointed look and steepled his fingers together beneath his chin.

"Grimmauld Place," Harry murmured, beginning to understand.

"Exactly. Grimmauld Place," Dumbledore said with a short nod.

"But couldn't you just find another Headquarters?" Harry asked in confusion. "I mean, Grimmauld Place was never exactly the most welcoming house anyway. Especially with that damn house elf around."

"And that, I'm afraid, is the crux of the issue. You see, Harry, Kreacher is a house elf bonded to serve the House of Black, or more specifically whoever holds the title of Lord Black. If Mr. Malfoy were, indeed, to inherit, then Kreacher would gladly tell him anything that he wanted to know. Including, I'm afraid, the names of almost every member of the Order and whatever of the Order's plans that he may have overheard," Dumbledore said solemnly.

The last of Harry's anger melted away, as he realized the very real problem that Dumbledore referred to. "So, what do we do?" Harry asked cautiously.

Dumbledore smiled slightly, the twinkle becoming more pronounced. "Luckily, Sirius created a will before he died. Aside from a rather large sum of money that he left to Remus Lupin, Sirius left everything to you, Harry. Including his title of Lord Black."

Harry's eyes widened as he tried to digest this but Dumbledore wasn't yet finished.

"Unfortunately there is another factor, one that Sirius was unaware of. It seems that one of his ancestors created a clause that states that anyone inheriting any of the Black fortune must be a pureblood." Dumbledore paused to gauge Harry's reaction. Seeing that Harry was paying careful attention he continued.

"As you may imagine this turns what should have been a rather straightforward situation into something else. After much debate, the goblins have decided that the wording says only that no-one who isn't a pureblood may inherit any of the Black _fortune _but says nothing about the title of Lord Black or any of the Black properties.

Harry felt his confusion increasing by the minute. "So what you're saying," Harry said slowly, "Is that I'm able to become the new Lord Black but I don't get any of Sirius money?" At Dumbledore's pleased nod, Harry felt a huge amount of relief. "That's good," he muttered, "Now the Order's secrets will remain safe and I won't have to accept any blood money."

Dumbledore frowned slightly when Harry referred to it as 'blood money' but refrained from comment.

"Wait a minute," Harry said suddenly, "If I don't get the money then who does?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I'm afraid that would be Mr. Malfoy."

"But what about the money that Sirius left for Professor Lupin? Does he still get it?" Harry demanded.

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "The Ministry classifies Werewolves as half-breeds, which unfortunately means that Remus does not count as a pureblood."

"But that's not fair!" Harry exclaimed furiously. "It's not Professor Lupin's fault that he was bitten!"

"I know, my boy, but the law is the law and there is nothing that we can do. Don't worry about Remus, he will be fine." Dumbledore said softly. "Now we must move on and discuss the rest of your summer."

Sighing regretfully, Harry nodded, before fixing the old man with a determined look. "I want to go to the Burrow," he stated flatly.

"Ah, Harry I am afraid that the Burrow is just not safe at the moment. No, it would be most unwise to go there I am afraid."

Harry controlled his anger carefully and was pleased that when he spoke his voice came out calm. "Where then, do you suggest I stay?"

"You must stay here for the rest of the summer."

"Excuse me?" Harry bit out. "Sir?" he added.

Dumbledore stood up, smiling down at Harry like an amused grandfather. "I'm afraid my boy, that with things in their current state it simply is not safe for you to leave the protection of the blood wards. You understand don't you, my boy? It is for your own good."

Harry's hands shook from where they rested on his lap. Blood pounded in his ears and he was having a hard time seeing anything but red. _No, I have to control myself!_

Taking a steadying breath he looked up and meeting Dumbledore's eyes he put on a sad little smile. "I understand sir. I know that you just have my best interest at heart. It's just hard, staying here sometimes, you know? Especially after Sirius …"

Dumbledore's eyes showed his sympathy. "Of course, dear boy, of course. It must be most difficult. But never forget that you aren't in this alone, Harry. You have the entire Order looking out for you." He suddenly looked down at his watch and explained that he must be off.

At the door, Dumbledore turned around and faced him once more. "Oh yes before I forget," Dumbledore said casually, "It would probably be best if you didn't leave the property. The wards only extend so far after all." And without giving Harry a chance to respond he left, leaving Harry standing in shocked silence.

_Oh yes old man, _he thought furiously_, I understand. Understand that if you won't let me out of here, then I'll just have to take things into my own hands._

Rushing upstairs he grabbed his invisibility cloak and a small backpack, as well as his Gringotts key. After all, if he was going to leave, he would need money.

Harry smiled. _Diagon alley here I come._

**SCENE - BREAK**

Dumbledore chuckled as he strolled away from Number 4 Privet Drive. No doubt the boy had thought he was being incredibly clever, trying to hide his anger. He was as easy to read as a book! Why, Dumbledore had not even _needed_ to use legilemency and he knew exactly what the boy was thinking.

Stopping at the edge of the property, he glanced around until he spotted Nymphadora lounging beside the roses in the garden. The charm that he had placed on his glasses allowed him to switch between normal sight and infrared vision enabling him to spot her easily, despite the invisibility cloak she wore. He chuckled again. Sometimes he amazed even himself with his ingenuity.

He casually beckoned for her to follow him, and obediently she rose, only tripping over her shoes once. Waiting until she ran to his side he turned and began walking, she falling into step beside him.

Once out of sight of Number 4 he cast subtle notice me not charms on both of them with a few small flicks of his finger. Then he turned, smiling at the young woman silently regarding him.

"You may take the cloak off now, Nymphadora my dear, it is quite safe."

She did as he suggested, grimacing slightly over the use of her first name. "Did everything go alright, Professor?" she asked curiously.

"I am no longer your Professor Nymphadora, you know that. Call me Albus," he said kindly, turning on his twinkle full power.

"Right, course' Professor," She said, cheerily ignoring everything he'd just said, "So is there something you need to ask me?"

"Perceptive as always I see. Yes, I need you to tail Harry when he leaves the house." Seeing her confused expression, he elaborated. "He is feeling quite angry at the moment, as I just told him that he must stay at his relative's house for the rest of the summer and will no doubt try to make an escape attempt."

"What?" she asked, appearing even more confused, "But if you know that he's gonna try to leave, why not stop him?"

Dumbledore smiled indulgently. "Stopping him now will only make things worse, I'm afraid. No, he needs to get this little rebellion out of his system or it will just fester and grow stronger. Now, he will no doubt attempt to get away using his cloak and that is why I placed a tracking charm on him. Pausing to make sure that she understood, he continued. "Don't allow him to see that you are there if it can be avoided. However, if he has not returned by nightfall then you are to reveal yourself and bring him back, understand?"

"Right, think so," she said slowly, though she sounded dubious. "Tail him, keep him safe, but don't reveal myself unless necessary or if it gets dark."

Dumbledore nodded, pleased with his brilliant plan. "That sounds about right, yes. And one more thing; if you see any Death Eaters, don't attempt to fight, get him out of there and alert the Order immediately."

With one last encouraging smile at a bemused looking Nymphadora, he spun on his heel and vanished with a loud pop.

**Authors note:**

**Just to clear something up, while not everything will be the same, this story will incorporate some of the ideas introduced in **_**The Half-blood Prince**_** such as the Horcruxes and what not, but Harry will go about things very differently, which will make the story very different.**

**JordieFan**


	3. Chapter 3: Diagon Alley

**Title: **Preparations for war

**Author: **JordieFan

**Summary: **AU sixth year. Begins summer after fifth year. Following the death of his godfather Harry takes a hard look at his life. Seeing Dumbledore's manipulations for the first time he makes a hard choice. Dark independent Harry.

**Pairings: **Harry/Tonks (main) Harry/multiple pairing

**Warnings: **Slightly AU, language, violence, angst, DarkHarry

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Harry Potter. It is the property of JK Rowling and various publishers.

**Chapter 3: Diagon Alley**

Harry stood on the edge of Magnolia Crescent, glancing around himself suspiciously. Satisfied that no-one was there, he quickly slipped off his invisibility cloak and drew his wand.

He had thought hard about his possible methods of travel to reach Diagon Alley and had eventually decided that despite the risk of being recognized, his best bet would be the Knight Bus. Making a mental note to himself to learn to apparate as soon as possible, he stuck out his wand hand.

BANG! SCREECH!

Despite the fact that he had been expecting it this time, the huge, purple triple Decker bus appearing out of thin air with the sound of a hundred apparitions all at once still gave him quite a shock.

Harry blinked when the familiar pimply face of Stan Shunpike pulled open the door. "Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded Witch or Wizard," Stan began dramatically before catching sight of Harry. He did quite a humorous double take before his thin face broke into a grin.

"Neville! Goo' to see ya mate! Or," he suddenly whispered leaning in conspiratorially, "Should I say 'Arry?" He asked, throwing Harry a huge wink.

Looking around worriedly, Harry replied just as quietly. "Er, just Neville if you wouldn't mind Stan."

Leaning back, Stan regarded him with a knowing smile. "Aye, right ya are Neville, right ya are. Well com' on then, get in 'ere! What you waiting for?" Stan exclaimed, beckoning him inside.

Harry hurried to comply and quickly gave Stan a handful of Sickles for payment.

"Right, where you off to then?"

"Er, The Leaky Cauldron."

After that Harry went over to one of the beds and tried to relax, while waiting to get off. Unfortunately there were a lot of Witches and Wizards in line before him so it would be quite awhile. To keep his mind occupied, Harry went over his plans for the day.

His first stop would obviously be Gringotts, where he would collect some money and find out what would be happening with the Black Vault. After that he had planned to do a bit of shopping. He had never actually been shopping with the sole intention of just _buying _things. The only times he had ever really gone shopping were when he collected his school supplies and he didn't really buy much then.

Looking down at Dudley's horrendously oversized clothes, he grimaced. Madam Malkins or another clothes store would be his first stop he decided. He would need an entire new wardrobe, really, as well as a few Wizarding cloaks and robes. After that he could just browse for a while and buy whatever he felt like. Smiling, Harry glanced down at the time. 3:30 pm. He knew that it tended to get dark at about 8:30 these days so that gave him about 5 hours.

Looking up to ask how much longer it would be, there was a loud bang and Harry saw that they were outside the Leaky Cauldron. He stood up and made his way quickly to the door.

"Ere ya are Nev! The Leaky Cauldron!" Stan exclaimed loudly a broad grin on his face. "See ya soon yeah?"

"Of course," Harry nodded smiling. "Bye Stan," he called one last time as he jumped outside and raced into the dark pub.

Once inside, Harry looked around for Tom the barkeep, spotting him down the other end of the pub cleaning a glass. Harry hurried over and cleared his throat to get Tom's attention.

Tom turned at the noise and gave Harry a toothy smile. "Mr. Potter, a pleasure! How can I help you, lad?"

"Hey Tom," Harry replied "I was wondering if I could book a room in advance, you know, for tonight." Harry asked hopefully.

"Certainly, certainly, Mr. Potter; would you like to pay now or when you come back later?"

"Er, later would be best I think. Could I leave some of my stuff up there now?"

"Of course you can, Lad. Come on I'll show you up there now."

Tom led him up to a fairly nice room on the second floor. It had a mid-size bed with a bedside cabinet, a large wardrobe, a table, some comfortable looking chairs and a bathroom leading off the main room. It was done in cosy looking reds and blues and had a very homey feel to it.

Harry quickly dropped his bag by the bed, before thanking Tom and making his way out into the Alley.

Diagon Alley was just as he remembered it. Loud, exotic and crowded. Harry casually smoothed his fringe over his scar as he made his way down the main street. A few people sent him odd looks as he passed, but Harry thought it had more to do with the way he was dressed rather than anyone recognizing him. After a few minutes the imposing doors of Gringotts were open before him and Harry strolled inside.

The first thing that he noticed upon entering was how crowded it was. There were about 12 goblins seated at desks with a line of about 4 or 5 witches and wizards at each one. More people stood in small groups and talked in hushed voices, while sending furtive glances at this Goblin or that. Shrugging, Harry walked over and stood in one of the lines, keeping himself busy by eavesdropping on as many conversations as possible.

After about 5 minutes of hearing about hair care potions from a couple of witches a few feet to his right, or about the best way to crush Ashwinder eggs if you wanted to maximize pus extraction, Harry was ready to call his little game quits, when he heard a familiar aristocratic drawl off to his left.

Turning around, Harry spotted none other than Draco Malfoy exiting a private office with a thoroughly irritated looking Goblin a step behind him.

… "And I want it done immediately Goblin, understand? You are to drop everything else that you are doing and- "Draco suddenly froze right in the middle of his superior pureblood rant, and almost as though he could feel Harry's gaze, his head turned and their eyes locked.

For a moment neither moved. They just stared into each other's eyes as though mentally willing the other to drop their gaze. Finally, a small sneer appeared on Draco's face and he walked forwards until they were about five feet apart.

"Potter."

"Malfoy."

Draco stared him up and down, his sneer becoming more pronounced. "You look like a hoodlum Potter. Or worse; a Weasley."

Strangely enough, Harry didn't feel the expected anger at the jibe to him and the Weasley's. He realized that the usual animosity that he would feel to the blond boy just wasn't there.

"Whatever you say, Malfoy," Harry replied with a small shrug.

Draco appeared taken aback by his casual response for a moment before his face hardened and a calculating glint appeared in his eye. "What are you doing here anyway? Come to try to claim back your mongrel Godfathers money?" He laughed coldly. "Well you're too late; it's being transferred to my personal vaults as we speak."

Harry tried not to let the slight against Sirius get to him. Malfoy wanted to provoke a response, that's why he chose to use Sirius. Instead he merely shrugged again and affected a deliberately casual voice and said, "I'm sure that the Blacks had a lot of money, Malfoy but do you really expect me to believe that they had half as much as you had in your personal vaults alone? The Black fortune is pocket money to you. What you really wanted and were denied was the title of Lord Black, and I got that." Harry smiled at Malfoy's shocked face. "Seems like I got the better end of the bargain after all."

Malfoy's shock quickly turned to fury. "You had better watch yourself Potter," he hissed dangerously, "We're not children anymore. Angering me could have some fairly serious consequences, for you, or your little friends." Malfoy turned around and swept out of the bank without a backward glance, leaving a thoughtful Harry behind.

_I wonder what he meant? He sounded fairly serious. Could he be a Death Eater? _Somehow, Harry doubted it.

"Excuse me sir, but if you're going to continue staring at the wall do it somewhere else." A low nasally voice that could only belong to a Goblin said impatiently.

Turning around, Harry saw that it was his turn and the Goblin behind the desk was glaring at him.

"Er, sorry I didn't realize it was my turn. I was just talking to someone, you see. . " Harry trailed off when the goblins face got even more vivious.

"If you are quite finished with your babble, _Sir_," the Goblin said coldly, "then tell me what you want."

Harry winced slightly at the harsh tone, but drew himself up anyway. "Right, my name is Harry Potter and I was wondering if I could speak to someone about my position with the Black inheritance?" He asked politely.

The Goblin sneered at him in a manner eerily reminiscent of Snape before calling out, "Griphook! Take Mr. Potter here to Goldshine's office please."

Griphook, the same little Goblin that took Harry to his vault before his first year, came trotting up showing his pointy teeth in what could have possibly passed for a smile.

"This way Mr. Potter, "Griphook said, beckoning Harry to follow.

Harry nodded and Griphook led him through the same door that Malfoy previously came out of. They continued walking down a couple more corridors before coming to a stop next to a door that read "Goldshine", in large gold lettering. Griphook knocked three times and waited until a voice called "Enter!" Before opening the door and beckoning Harry to go in.

Harry entered slowly, looking about with interest. The office was quite plain except for various portraits of battles decorating the walls. The Goblin that Harry assumed was Goldshine sat behind a plain wooden desk covered in papers by the far wall. He looked up when Harry entered and gave a small smile of welcome.

"Mr. Potter, welcome. Please, have a seat," he said politely, gesturing to the chair that sat opposite his desk. "Now, what is it that you wish to discuss?"

Harry thought for a moment before beginning. "Well, you are aware, that I have recently inherited the title of Lord Black?" After receiving Goldshine's nod he continued. "Well I basically need to know what this means and what responsibilities or privileges I need to be aware of."

Goldshine steepled his fingers beneath his chin and regarded Harry thoughtfully. "I see," he said at last, "Well there is not much to tell I'm afraid, Mr. Potter. However I shall do my best. Let's see. Hmm. Well, you, as the head of the House of Black reserve the right to disown any other member of the House of Black. You can also legally forbid anyone from entering any properties belonging to the House of Black. And probably most importantly for you, as head of a house you can also be fully emancipated as an adult in the Wizarding world."

Harry felt his eyes widen at the last one. "Emancipated?" he repeated in disbelief. "How? When? Can we do it now?" he babbled excitedly.

"Certainly, Mr. Potter it is a fairly simple procedure. I just need to collect the documents. Wait here please."

Harry barely noticed as Goldshine got up and left. He was too far lost in his thoughts for that. _An adult! That means I won't have to go back to the Dursley's! Dumbledore won't be able to control every inch of my life anymore. But then again if I left the Dursley's where would I go? The Burrow? No, that wouldn't work, Dumbledore wouldn't give me a moment's peace if I went there. _Harry sighed in annoyance. He would figure out all the details later. He looked up as the door opened and Goldshine came back in.

"Here are the documents Mr. Potter. You will need to sign your name in all of the indicated places, as well as placing a drop of your blood in this box here." Goldshine pointed out a small box at the bottom of the page and Harry nodded.

He quickly signed his name and cut his thumb with the small knife Goldshine offered him. As soon as the blood hit the page, a blue glow surrounded it for a second before disappearing.

"Congratulations Mr. Potter, you are now an Adult."

Harry smiled when a sudden thought occurred to him. "Goldshine, now that I'm an adult, can I do magic outside of school?"

"Indeed you can, Mr. Potter. The underage Wizarding laws no longer apply to you," the goblin said smoothly.

Harry grinned. A feeling of immense satisfaction was rising in his chest, and he sat still for a second, savoring the moment. _Hermione and Ron will be so jealous, _he thought smugly.

"Does that conclude your business here Mr. Potter, or is there something else?"

Harry snapped back to the present at the sound of the Goblin's voice. "Yes actually, there are a couple more things." Seeing Goldshine's expectant look, Harry continued. "I was wondering if I could get a bank statement telling me how much money I have."

Goldshine nodded, and walked over to a cabinet by the wall. Placing his finger on the key hole he said "Bank Statement's for all vaults belonging to Harry Potter." Instantly the draw opened up and Goldshine withdrew a couple of official looking documents.

"Here you are Mr. Potter; these are complete bank statements for the two vaults that you own."

"Two?" Harry questioned, surprised.

"Indeed. One is the trust fund that your parents set up for you and the other is the Potter family vault."

Harry laughed, feeling like a fool. He noticed Goldshine giving him an odd look and so explained. "I always thought that my trust vault was the family vault, I mean, there was definitely enough money in there."

Quieting his mirth, he looked at the figures and let out a low whistle of appreciation. In his trust vault he had about 48,000 Galleons, and in the family vault there was about 238,000 Galleons.

Having a sudden thought, Harry looked up and asked Goldshine how much pounds went into a Galleon.

"With the current exchange rate, I believe that would be about 6.2 pounds to a Galleon." The Goblin said matter-of-factly. "You should be proud Mr. Potter; you are one of the twenty wealthiest Wizards in Britain."

Harry nodded, amazed at just how much money he had. He stood up and thanked Goldshine for seeing him, and helping him out so much.

"It was my pleasure Mr. Potter. You are leaving now?" He asked, also rising.

"Yeah," Harry replied, "I just have one more question if you don't mind?"

"Not at all, what would you like to know?"

"Well I was just curious, you said that since I am the head of the Black family, I could be emancipated, but then couldn't I have done that a long time ago since I'm the head of the Potter family?"

Goldshine nodded slowly with an approving expression. "Well reasoned Mr. Potter; however there is one major flaw in that. You are not yet the head of the Potter family."

"What, but aren't I the only Potter left?" He asked in confusion.

"Yes but that doesn't necessarily make you the family head. You see, your father left an order that you would inherit the title of head of the family only once you came of age, so right now the family has no head." Goldshine explained as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

Harry was incredibly confused, but decided not to question the Goblin further. After all, he thought he understood the situation well enough. He would become head of the Potter family when he turned 17. Shaking his head to clear it of all the confusing thoughts, he brought up his final topic.

Alright, I just need to head down to one of my vaults to get some money now."

Goldshine chuckled. "You truly are ignorant of how things are done aren't you? Please do not take offence Mr. Potter but if you want to access your money there is a much easier way than lugging all your Galleons around with you."

Harry felt his face grow red with embarrassment at the truth in the Goblin's words. He really didn't know how things were done in the Wizarding World. Another thing that he would need to do, he thought glumly. Research Wizarding society.

He forced himself to pay attention as the Goblin produced something that looked awfully like a credit card out of his draw. Seeing Harry's gaze the Goblin smirked. "We were the ones that invented the credit card, Mr. Potter. But after seeing how hopeless Muggles were when it came to banking, we gave them a little hand."

Harry smiled, impressed. "Thank you for all your help today Goldshine," Harry said sincerely. Taking the credit card from the Goblin's hands, he pocketed it. "You've been fantastic. If I ever come back I'll know who to ask for."

"You are quite welcome Mr. Potter. You are an interesting Wizard. You treat Goblin's as your equals rather than looking down at us. A rare Wizard indeed," he murmured.

**SCENE - BREAK**

All in all, Harry felt incredibly pleased with how things had turned out in Gringotts as he walked to Madam Malkin's. He had become a legal adult, had an interesting chat with Malfoy, found out that he was incredibly rich and got himself a credit card. Not a bad couple of hours, he thought smugly.

Walking into the popular Wizarding clothing store Harry looked around for Madam Malkin. He didn't see her, but he did spot a pretty young witch, reading some type of magazine behind the counter. Walking up to her and putting on his most charming smile, Harry coughed lightly to get her attention.

The woman jumped slightly at the sound and quickly put down the magazine, giving him an apologetic glance. "Sorry young man I didn't see you there. How may I help you?"

"Er, well, I need some new clothes," Harry said lamely, picking at his unattractive T-shirt. "Obviously," he added with a small grin.

"Yes, quite," she said in agreement, a small amused smile on her face. "Well what were you looking for?"

"I'll need some new robes, several pairs, some for school and some casual as well as some ordinary clothes like shirts and jeans and stuff," Harry replied. "You do sell normal clothes don't you?" He added uncertainly, glancing around and seeing nothing but Wizard wear.

She laughed at the slightly uncomfortable look on his face, not unkindly just amused at his shyness about clothes shopping. "Of course we do, there just kept in the back as most people go to Gladrags for that stuff. Will you need a lot then, or just a few items?"

"Actually I'll probably require an entire new wardrobe. Believe it or not, these are the best clothes I've got," Harry said, indicating Dudley's hand-me-downs.

The young woman looked appalled at this piece of news and promised that she would sort him out. The next half an hour was spent picking out shirts, jeans, jackets, coats, khaki's, socks and much to Harry's embarrassment underwear. Once Jessica - as the young sales witch was called - told him that they had enough, they bundled up his purchases and left them at the counter and moved on to the Wizarding section.

Harry ended up getting three plain black pairs of robes for school, as well as two more pairs for casual wear, one in red and one in green. And finally, Jessica had insisted on him buying a pair of Dress robes which were black with red and gold designs on them.

The final item on the agenda was cloaks, and Harry decided to buy three. One was a plain black cloak, but the other two were more interesting. The first was Gryffindor colors and was a deep red with gold trimming around the cuffs and sleeves. It was held together at the neck by a figurine of a lion. The other cloak was almost the exact opposite. It was emerald green with silver trimming and had a snake figurine instead of the lion. Harry smirked when he thought of Ron's horror-struck expression when he saw it. His red haired friend would probably accuse him of going dark.

After Harry had paid for all his purchases, Jessica suggested that he pick some to wear out of the store and Harry had enthusiastically agreed. He now found himself studying his reflection in one of the changing room's mirrors. He was wearing a plain black, short sleeved shirt, black trousers tucked into brown and gold Dragonhide boots, as well as his Green and silver cloak over the top. He looked like a new person, Harry thought in disbelief. The colors worked well together and the black and green matched his hair and eyes extremely well. His cloak gave off a slight shine as It was made from incredibly expensive silk, and it felt great as well.

Aside from that, Harry thought the most amazing thing was that it all fit him perfectly, and the cloak would automatically resize itself as he grew. The only thing that Harry could see to complain about, in regards to how he looked was his small size. He had recently had a growth spurt and stood at about 5'7 but was still smaller than most boys his age. He also looked quite underweight, but now that Harry could do magic and was legally an adult, that would hopefully change as well.

"You done in there yet, Harry? Come on out, let's have a look." Jessica called.

Harry complied, walking outside and turning in an exaggerated circle with a large grin. He heard Jessica whistle appreciatively and couldn't stop the slight blush that rose on his cheeks.

"Fuck, if you were a bit older …" Jessica trailed off suggestively, and Harry's blush intensified.

"I'll keep that in mind, and maybe I'll pay you a visit in a couple of years," Harry said cheekily.

"I'll hold you to that," she replied, equally playful.

Harry grinned at her one more time before leaving with his bags shrunken in his pockets.

As he walked back down the street, he glanced at the time, 6:00. Harry quickened his pace. He would have a couple more hours before it got dark. _But where to next? _He wondered. _Flourish and Blotts? Not a bad idea, I suppose. I should get some books to read for the rest of the summer. Plus I need to learn more about Wizarding society. What better place than a book? _With that decided, Harry made his way over to flourish and blotts.

Entering the large bookstore, Harry glanced around at the shelves upon shelves of books. The only time that he had ever bought books here were his schoolbooks, and Harry supposed that as he now had a credit card directly linked to his bank vault he may as well make up for lost time.

The shop was mostly empty with only a few late shoppers still browsing the shelves. Grabbing a basket from the front, he dove into the shelves, not looking for anything in particular, but rather anything that caught his eye.

He ended up collecting a good number of books on a variety of subjects. He had several books on newt level charms and transfiguration, books with advanced curses and Auror level defence, a couple on basic potions principles that he was sure Snape had never bothered to teach. A large book on Wizarding customs and traditions, and several introductory books on the mind arts. He thought that, given what had happened last year, learning about how to shield his mind would be incredibly useful.

Taking his books to the front Harry quickly paid using his new credit card before shrinking the bags and putting them in his pockets. He smirked. Being able to use magic outside of school would be so useful. Harry made his way out of the shop and started back to the Leaky Cauldron.

As he walked down the cobblestone streets, Harry's mind wandered to what he would do next. He couldn't spend the entire summer in the Leaky Cauldron and he didn't want to go back to the Dursley's. The Weasley's perhaps? But no, as much as he liked Mr. and Mrs. Weasley they would do anything Dumbledore asked of them, and Harry had no illusions that Dumbledore would find a way to force him back to Privet Drive. So where? After a moment of silent pondering, he shrugged his concerns off. He would have plenty of time to work something out; best to wait until he reached his room.

Entering the Leaky Cauldron, Harry greeted Tom and asked to be shown to his room. As the wizened old man made small talk as he was leading him up the stairs, Harry felt his lips curving into a small smile of success. He had escaped the Dursley's and spent the day at Diagon Alley and better yet, he had done it with Dumbledore being none the wiser.

**Reviews always welcome!**

**JordieFan**


	4. Chapter 4: Talk with Tonks

**Title: **Preparations for war

**Author: **JordieFan

**Summary: **AU sixth year. Begins summer after fifth year. Following the death of his godfather Harry takes a hard look at his life. Seeing Dumbledore's manipulations for the first time he makes a hard choice. Dark independent Harry.

**Pairings: **Harry/Tonks (main) Harry/multiple pairing

**Warnings: **Slightly AU, language, violence, angst, DarkHarry

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Harry Potter. It is the property of JK Rowling and various publishers.

**Chapter 4: Talk with Tonks**

_The mind arts are a complex and powerful branch of magic that rely more on willpower, patience and focus than how much magical power one has. This is the reason why there are so few masters of the mind arts, as not many Wizards and Witches have the focus and determination required to be anything other than mediocre. _

_A common mistaken belief among many people is that the mind arts are only the study of Occlumency and Legilemency. While they are a large area and extremely important it is far from the only thing someone truly skilled can accomplish. True masters of the mind arts can not only read thoughts but they can push their own thoughts into another's head. This can be used to communicate with somebody or, by disguising your thought to make it seem like the victim's own, to subtly control someone's mind. Likewise, as well as pushing a thought into someone's head you could push an emotion, a desire, a vision or even create and plant false memories. All of this is known as Telepathy._

_Occlumency can be used to block telepathy of course, but it is much harder to do so than blocking Legilemency attacks. The reason for this is not that Telepathy is stronger than Legilemency and can easily break down Occlumency shields (In fact the opposite is true) but merely because it can be so difficult to detect. One can not constantly keep their Occlumency barriers at full power as it would be too draining, so subtle bits of Telepathy can slip through unnoticed._

_However, arguably the most powerful ability one can learn with the mind arts is the power of Telekinesis. This is the ability to move objects with one's mind. The reason that Telekinesis is so powerful is because the only way to block it is with Occlumency. A magical shield will have no effect. Depending on the skill of the user you could, in a duel, hold your enemies in place, pick them up and throw them or even break bones and snap someone's neck with a glance._

Harry dropped the book onto the bed, his eyes wide as he considered all that he'd just read. He hadn't had a clue that you could do so much with the mind arts. Like the book had mentioned, he had just assumed that the mind arts consisted of only Occlumency and Legilemency. But if this book was to be believed there was so much more to it. The implications were simply staggering. Didn't everyone say that Dumbledore and Voldemort were masters of the mind arts? If Dumbledore could use Telepathy to control thoughts and emotions. . . But he had never noticed anything like that. A moment later Harry felt like hitting himself. Of course he wouldn't have noticed anything; the whole point was to make the person believe it to be their own thoughts.

Harry got up and began to pace up and down the small room, his thoughts swirling around in his head. Suddenly he froze, his face paling dramatically. Of course! The visions that Voldemort had sent him all last year! The longing that Harry had felt to go further to get past that door. . . That had to have been Telepathy. So Voldemort could definitely do that, which meant that Dumbledore would almost certainly be able to as well. But if Voldemort could use Telepathy, could he use Telekinesis as well? Somehow, Harry didn't think so. After all if Voldemort could snap his neck just by looking at him then why was he still alive? Still, even without Telekinesis his mind was still incredibly vulnerable to any Legilemency or Telepathy attacks. He would have to learn Occlumency as soon as possible th-

"You know, the way you're stomping around like an elephant you're going to have a lot of people angry at you tomorrow." An amused voice said from behind him.

Harry spun around with a yelp of surprise, his fingers desperately grabbing for his wand. His eyes went wide when he saw nothing but thin air behind him. Quickly getting control of himself he pointed his wand at where he thought the voice had come from.

"Who's there?" He demanded hoarsely.

Thick peals of laughter met his ears before a hand appeared from thin air above his bed, removing an invisibility cloak to reveal a hysterically laughing Tonks lying on his bed.

"Wotcher Harry! You're face was too funny!" She gasped, before degenerating once more into laughter.

Harry scowled, feeling his face going red with embarrassment.

"Well what do you expect to happen when you go sneaking into people's rooms with a bloody invisibility cloak?" Harry demanded angrily."Wait a minute!" he suddenly exclaimed, "Just what _are _you doing sneaking into my room with an invisibility cloak?!" His eyes widened with sudden realization. "You've been following me!"

Tonks shot him an innocent look, as though to say 'who me?'

"You have," he snarled furiously, "Admit it!"

Tonks crawled to the edge of the bed and leaned towards him placing one of her hands casually on his shoulder. Shooting him a sly smile, she leaned her face to the side of his so that she could whisper in his ear.

"Now, Harry there are plenty of reasons why a girl might sneak into you're room so late at night "– Here her gaze traveled dramatically lower and Harry felt his original blush coming back full force – "That have nothing to do with me following you around all day."

Despite knowing that Tonks was messing with him, Harry couldn't help the small tingle of pleasure at feeling her breath in his ear and having her body so close to his.

Shaking his head to clear his traitorous thoughts, he stepped back and casually adjusted his new cloak to hide the evidence of his arousal. Though when he glanced up, her wickedly amused blue eyes told him that he had been less than successful.

Once more fighting down a blush, he decided to be direct. "No games Tonks. Did Dumbledore tell you to follow me or not?" he said flatly.

"He did." She said simply, before a wicked smile curved her lips. "Not that I minded, of course. I especially enjoyed Madam Malkins. I always wondered why the changing rooms were so large. Now, though, I understand. It's so that there's room for the admirers."

Harry felt his jaw drop as his face took on a look of disbelief. "You followed me into the _changing rooms?"_ He asked in horror.

"Well, Dumbledore did say not to let you out of my sight," Tonks said quite seriously.

When Harry's face became even more horror-filled she finally took mercy on him.

"Relax I'm just kidding! I didn't follow you into the changing rooms!" She suddenly burst out laughing again, holding her sides and falling back onto the bed. "You rea-lly are too ea-sy, she gasped hysterically. "I wish I had a cam-era!"

Harry for his part felt equal amounts relief and annoyance. Relief that she hadn't really watched him change and annoyance that he had fallen for her trick so easily. He found himself watching her in bemused silence as she rolled around trying to control her mirth. His mind began wandering as he continued to watch her. She was wearing tight blue jeans and a green blouse that didn't quite reach her waist as well as showing a fair bit of cleavage. He also idly noticed that he could see the straps of her pink bra going over her shoulders, which he thought went perfectly with her bright pink hair. . .

Hold on. Why was he thinking about what she was wearing? That had absolutely no relevance whatsoever. Clearing his throat roughly, he looked at Tonks to see that she had finished laughing and was merely lying down and watching him with a questioning smile on her face.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Why have you revealed yourself now and not earlier?" He asked suspiciously. "What, did Dumbledore tell you to make sure that I went back to the Dursley's like a good little boy?"

"Uh huh, pretty much," she said cheerfully.

Harry was momentarily taken aback by her straightforward answer, before making his face expressionless and fixing her with a hard gaze.

"No".

Tonks sat up, playfulness evaporating as she narrowed her eyes at him. "No what?"

"No I won't go back to the Dursley's." Harry said flatly.

"Oh brilliant plan," Tonks said sarcastically. "What, are you going stay here in the Leaky Cauldron for the rest of the summer then?"

"If I have to."

"Don't be a fool!" She snapped angrily. "Loads of people will see you here everyday, anyone of whom could go and report to the Death Eaters. You won't last a week!"

"Then I'll think of something else!" Harry spat, equally angry. "But I won't be going back to the Dursley's!"

Tonks face softened slightly. "Harry you don't have a choice. You're forgetting that you're not even sixteen yet. You can't live by yourself. You have to go back to you're relatives house." She said softly.

Harry gave her a victorious smirk. "I see that you didn't follow me so closely after all. You never followed me into Goldshine's office then?"

Tonks frowned at him suspiciously. "No, it's against the law to spy on a private discussion in Gringotts and Goblins are pretty tricky creatures. No doubt, it wouldn't have taken too long for me to be discovered. Why does it matter?" She asked suspiciously.

"It matters because as Head of the Black House I was able to sign several documents making me legally an adult in the Wizarding World." Harry said triumphantly, savoring the dumbfounded look that momentarily appeared on Tonks face. He sniggered. Karma was a bitch.

"You're an adult!?" Tonks said in disbelief. Suddenly a loud guffaw escaped her. "Oh man, Dumbledore's gonna flip!" She shot him a grin. "Make sure I'm there when you tell him, okay? I wanna see his face!"

Harry frowned at her. "You're not angry? I expected you to start telling me how stupid I was or how much trouble I was in, or some such nonsense."

"And what good would that do? It's done, you can't exactly unsign those documents," she said calmly.

Harry smiled at her in thanks, and walked over to sit down beside her on the bed. Leaning back on the pillows until he was comfortable, he glanced over at her. She was watching him, rather intently he thought, her blue eyes trying to bore a hole in his head.

Tonks finally relaxed her gaze. "So, what are you planning on doing then?" She asked quietly. "You can't stay here in the Leaky Cauldron," she added quickly, seeing him open his mouth.

"Fine," Harry grumbled, "I suppose you're right." He thought for a moment, before grimacing slightly. "Grimmauld isn't an option either." He glanced quickly at Tonks, before staring at his hands. "Too many memories," he muttered.

Tonks nodded slightly, looking sad. An awkward silence fell between them as neither quite knew what to say. Harry noticed out of the corner of his eyes that Tonks kept on opening her mouth as though to say something, before she would abruptly close it with an uncomfortable look on her face. He hoped that she wouldn't bring up Sirius; He really wasn't in the mood to talk about his feelings.

Thankfully she seemed to pick up on his reluctance to speak about his godfather and spoke about something else.

"You know," she said carefully, "that Dumbledore is going to try to force you to go back to the Dursley's, don't you?"

"The thought did cross my mind," Harry replied dryly.

Tonks chuckled for a moment before becoming serious again. "Listen, I don't know what your issue with Dumbledore is, Harry, but it seems to me that if you want some level of independence from him and the Order, then completely disobeying him by leaving the Dursley's isn't such a good idea."

Harry frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if you leave the Dursley's then Dumbledore will just watch you closer than ever and once the school year starts, he could make your life difficult by placing restrictions on you as Headmaster."

Harry sighed, raking his fingers through his hair in annoyance. "I hadn't thought of that, but you're right, he wouldn't let me out of his sight." He laughed bitterly. "All in the name of my safety, of course."

Tonks glanced at him sharply. "We _are_ trying to keep you safe you know? A lot of people in the Order put a lot of time and effort into guarding you!" she snapped indignantly.

Harry scowled at her in annoyance. "I don't need _or_ want your _protection."_ He sneered. "Do you think that I _appreciate _being locked in a house with people who hate me every summer? Or being followed wherever I go by Order members under invisibility cloaks! How about being forbidden to send owls to my friends!" His anger building, he jumped off of the bed to tower over Tonks, glaring at her furiously. "Dumbledore believes that I don't deserve the right to have an input regarding what I do with my own life! The old coot still thinks that he can do no wrong! Even after all the damage his manipulations have caused! Even after what happened to Sirius-!" Harry abruptly broke off, glancing warily at a wide eyed Tonks. Only then did he realize that he had begun shouting.

His anger left him as suddenly as it had come and he let out a long shaky breath. "I-I'm sorry." He said stiffly. "It's not your fault." He turned his back to her, his face and voice becoming expressionless. "I think that you should leave."

For a moment there was no sound in the room except for his slightly harsh breaths. Then he heard fabric rustling and a moment later a hand was placed softly on his shoulder. Harry stiffened at the touch but otherwise didn't give any reaction.

"I understand now." Tonks sighed tiredly, a sound that Harry had never heard from the cheerful young Auror before. "You blame Dumbledore for Sirius' death."

The way she had said it, it clearly wasn't a question but Harry nodded anyway.

"Well, I won't ask why. You clearly have your reasons." She took her hand off his shoulder and walked around in front of him so that she could look him straight in the eye.

"But you have to see that this just makes it even more important that you go back to the Dursley's. If you leave them now then Dumbledore will know that you still hold a grudge and will do everything he can to get you back under his control. But, if you stay there then when Dumbledore finds out that you're legally an adult, yet still stayed at the Dursley's as he wanted you to, he'll think that he still has your trust." She looked eagerly into his face, to see if he understood.

Harry did understand. As much as he didn't like the thought of returning, what Tonks said made a lot of sense. If he wanted the freedom to do what he wanted then he needed Dumbledore to trust him. Starting a war with the old man at this point would not be wise.

Harry looked appraisingly at Tonks face. "That's a very. . . Slytherin plan."

Tonks grinned proudly and her hair flashed green and silver. "Well, the sorting hat did want to put me in Slytherin," she admitted. "And I was definitely tempted. But in the end I asked for Gryffindor merely because as a Half-Blood I wouldn't have been treated too well in Slytherin."

Harry looked at her in amazement. "The sorting hat wanted to put me in Slytherin as well!"

Tonks looked at him, startled. "Are you serious? Ha! Imagine: Harry Potter, Gryffindor golden boy in Slytherin! That would have been hilarious!"

To his surprise, Harry found himself chuckling along with Tonks. He idly wondered how that had happened. Hadn't he been in a murderous rage a few minutes ago?

A sudden thought struck him and he turned around to face Tonks suspiciously. "Wait a second," he said slowly, still eyeing the Auror suspiciously, "How do I know that you won't tell Dumbledore everything that I told you? You are in his Order after all."

Tonks gave him a slightly insulted look. "I may be in the Order, but that doesn't mean that I'm Dumbledore's servant," she said indignantly. "I joined the Order to fight You-Know-Who not because of Dumbledore. I won't tell Dumbledore anything about your personal feelings towards him because it doesn't relate to the war."

Harry had a surprised look on his face when she finished. "Oh… Well thank you then, Tonks," he said softly. He smiled at her, amazed that she would be so thoughtful. "That means a lot to me," Harry said sincerely with a small blush on his face.

Tonks frowned at him for a moment longer, before nodding in satisfaction. "And don't you forget it either."

Still smiling, Harry took out his wand and cast a Tempus charm. "Shit! It's already nearly eleven." He said hurriedly. "It will take me at least an hour to get back to the Dursley's. When do you think Dumbledore will check for me?"

Tonks shrugged. "Don't worry, I'll side-along Apparate you back. Oh, and I'll keep you company sometimes when it's my watch if you want. I never did understand why we couldn't let you know we were there or interact with you at all."

Harry shot her a warm smile. "Thanks, I'd appreciate it. And now that I can use magic outside school I guess that it won't be so bad." He quickly ran around the room grabbing any of his things that were lying around and shoved it all in his pack.

Once finished, he turned to face Tonks. "Ready to go."

The grin that appeared on her face sent chills down his spine. She held out her arm to him and, cautiously he took it.

Just before Disapparating, she shot him one last evil glance over her shoulder. "I'm sure that you'll find your first time side-along Apparating extremely _pleasant."_

Before his mind processed her meaning they had vanished with a loud _CRACK!_

**Authors note:**

**Well there's chapter 4! Hope you liked it and all that. Chapter 5 will be out in about a week probably, so there'll be plenty of time for reviews!**

**JordieFan**


	5. Chapter 5: Just a practice duel

**Title: **Preparations for war

**Author: **JordieFan

**Summary: **AU sixth year. Begins summer after fifth year. Following the death of his godfather Harry takes a hard look at his life. Seeing Dumbledore's manipulations for the first time he makes a hard choice. Dark independent Harry.

**Pairings: **Harry/Tonks (main) Harry/multiple pairing

**Warnings: **Slightly AU, language, violence, angst, DarkHarry

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Harry Potter. It is the property of JK Rowling and various publishers.

**Chapter 5: Just a practice duel**

It had been a couple of weeks since Harry's impromptu trip to Diagon Alley and life had improved dramatically since then. The Dursleys went out of their way to be polite to him and actually called him when they were going to eat dinner, ever since Harry had let slip that he could do magic outside of school.

That was the real reason that Harry was no longer so upset at being here. Being able to do magic during the summer was wonderful. Of course, he had only been able to practice his transfiguration and charms since there certainly wasn't enough space to cast curses in his tiny little room; but despite that, the practice was fun and extremely useful. He had gotten out his old texts from previous years and had gone through it all again, casting countless charms and transfiguration spells on various objects in his room. Recently he had moved on to some Sixth year stuff, such as transfiguring inanimate objects into Animls. It was extraordinarily difficult and he was having a lot of trouble managing it.

As well as all of that, he had been reading through all the books he had bought at Flourish and Blotts. Wizarding customs and etiquette were a bit dull to read about but there were some things in there that were astonishing to Harry. Such as the fact that there was a specific way in which Pureblood Wizards and Witches ate, so as not to be impolite, and an incredibly complicated dress-code which was to show how rich one was, what family one came from and what position one had in society. Harry had never heard Ron mention anything about this stuff. Then again, Ron probably didn't know himself. The Weasley's definitely didn't seem to be the sort of people to put much stock in what society dictated that they should wear, not to mention the fact that Ron was just about the most impolite eater that Harry had ever met.

The mind arts books however, Harry had found absolutely fascinating. After reading all he could about what they actually were, he had read about the methods of learning them. Not surprisingly, Snape had not been teaching him correctly at all last year. In fact if the book was right then what Snape had been doing – violently ripping into his mind again and again – had done far more harm than good. The first thing that you needed to accomplish was to learn how to completely clear your mind of all thoughts, feelings and emotions. The book described several methods for doing this, but so far Harry had been unsuccessful. He had come close once, but then Dudley had caused a mini-earthquake by walking down the hall and his concentration had been broken.

The most interesting book that he had bought though was the one that described all sorts of Auror level curses and spells. Harry had been itching to try them out and get some dueling practice in, but he just didn't have the space. It was frustrating to say the least. He would have probably run off again to try some of them out if it weren't for the fact that Tonks had promised to Apparate him to an old Auror training location on his birthday, when she had guard duty from 2pm to midnight.

That was why Harry was currently staring out of his window, waiting for the telltale popping sound that would indicate Tonks arrival.

It was 1:57pm on July 31, his birthday, which meant that she would be here any minute. Tonks had been great, the last couple of weeks. Once he had reluctantly decided to return to Privet drive to allay Dumbledore's suspicions, Tonks had been disregarding the old man's orders and coming up to his room to keep him company during her shifts.

He had gotten to know Tonks quite well during the last couple of weeks. He had discovered that there was a lot more to the pretty Auror than he had known. For instance, apparently she wasn't naturally clumsy at all, but rather that had been a result of changing her height and body mass so often when she was young by using her metamorphogas abilities. Tonks had explained that in her last year at Hogwarts, Madame Pomfrey had told her that she had most likely permanently lost her center of balance due to forcing herself to grow and shrink so often.

Harry had been shocked that no-one had warned her of the dangers beforehand. Surely the teachers had known what she was doing, so why hadn't they intervened? Why hadn't Dumbledore? Tonks had merely shrugged it off and said that they probably just hadn't thought of it, but Harry was not convinced. Dumbledore seemed to know everything that went on in his school.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of an apparition in the yard below. Grinning excitedly, he snatched up his wand and made his way quickly downstairs and out the front door.

It was a relatively cool afternoon with a pleasant breeze lightly tickling his face as he made his way up the front path of the Dursley's house and towards the front garden. The sun was currently mostly behind a pair of clouds so it wasn't too bright either. Harry came to a stop beside Aunt Petunia's rose bush and surreptiously glanced around.

He frowned when after a full minute nothing had happened. Another minute had him tapping his foot impatiently and wondering what Tonks was doing. The third minute and he had had enough. Scowling irritably, he glared around at the perfectly manicured lawn, paying particular attention to anywhere that looked like a good hiding place, never mind the fact that under an invisibility cloak _anywhere_ was a good hiding place.

"Tonks!" He hissed angrily to the thin air, "Are you going to make me stand here all day? Enough is enough! Come on, I want to go practice some spells already." After waiting for a good 20 seconds and getting no response but the whistling of the breeze, Harry lost his cool completely and started snarling swear words at the air. He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice the small popping sound that signaled an apparition, nor the slow footsteps coming up behind him. So when a hand cautiously tapped him on the shoulder and a feminine voice whispered his name, Harry gasped in startlement and spun around.

Tonks disembodied head was floating behind him and she was looking at him uncertainly as though wondering whether he was completely sane or not.

"Um, Harry why were you swearing at the garden?" Tonks head asked timidly.

"Like you don't know!" Harry said angrily. "Making me stand here and wait for so long! Probably having a good laugh!"

Tonks stared at him as though he had lost his marbles. A wrist baring a watch suddenly appeared from under the cloak and Tonks glanced down at it in bewilderment.

"Well, I suppose I am two minutes late for my shift. I didn't realize that it was so important to you that I arrived on the dot." She looked up at him with a coy smile forming on her lips. "Wow, actually it's kind of flattering that my being a couple of minutes late brings out such a strong emotional response from you Harry."

"Wha-?" Harry spluttered indignantly. "I don't- It doesn't-." He raised his chin and pointed an accusatory finger at her. "You're turning this around on me! The issue is you skulking around the garden under an Invisibility cloak, laughing your head off while I'm here trying to talk to you!"

Tonks cracked a huge grin. "Is that you why you were yelling at the garden? Because you thought that I was 'skulking around under an invisibility cloak'?" Tonks sniggered at him. "I apparated here only to find you snarling at thin air! I wasn't already here, you idiot!"

Harry's face twisted in confusion. "But I heard you apparate. I was up in my room and heard the sound of your apparition!"

This proved to be too much for Tonks who burst out laughing. Harry growled indignantly when one of her hands came up to point at him and her laughter doubled in volume.

When Tonks showed no sign of stopping and her hand kept pointing at him, Harry decided that he'd had enough. "What's so funny?" he snapped in annoyance.

Tonks slowly controlled herself enough to be able to speak. "You're so stupid sometimes!" she gasped. "It was the other guard leaving, not me arriving!"

Harry made a small noise of comprehension, suddenly feeling incredibly foolish. He suddenly had a mental picture of himself snarling swear words at thin air and felt his face heat up in embarrassment. He must have been quite the sight. Of course, that got him to realize that their might still be muggles watching them, and he looked around in alarm. A floating head wasn't a common sight after all.

Strangely, there was no-one watching them at all. He turned around to ask Tonks whether she had done something, when he felt a small tingle on his skin. Frowning, he concentrated on the feeling, and it strengthened around him until it seemed to give off a quiet hum. He then noticed a faint glow of bluish light surrounding Tonks and him in a circle.

"What is that?" He asked Tonks in astonishment. "I've never seen anything like it before," he murmured, reaching out a hand to touch the glow. Surprisingly, he felt nothing as his fingers passed straight through it.

Tonks, who had recovered from her laughter, glanced at him in confusion. "What's what?"

"This! The glow. The blue glow. It's surrounding us, see?" He gestured with his hand, indicating a circle and looking to see whether or not Tonks understood what he was talking about.

She glanced at him skeptically. "I don't see anything, Harry."

Having a sudden thought, he looked at her sharply. "Did you put up some kind of spell around us?" He asked excitedly.

She nodded. "Of course, I put up a notice me not charm as soon as I noticed you raving at your garden. Would have made a strange sight to the muggles."

Harry's brow furrowed in thought. That must be what it was, Tonks notice me not charm. But how to be sure. . .

"Drop it." He commanded.

"Huh?"

"Drop the charm," he repeated. "I want to see whether the glow disappears when you drop the charm."

She sighed in annoyance, and pulled the Invisibility cloak completely over her head, before flicking her wand. As soon as she did so the glow and hum disappeared.

Harry grinned triumphantly, looking at where Tonks had disappeared from. "It disappeared as soon as you dropped the spell." Harry told her excitedly.

"So?"

"So, that means that I was somehow able to see the Magic!" Harry said as though she were daft.

A moment later the small humming reappeared, accompanied a second later by Tonks floating head. Harry concentrated and immediately spotted the soft blue light again. "Look it's there again," Harry whispered in awe. "Can't you see it? Look!"

Tonks shot him an irritated glance. "I don't see anything. And I've never heard of Wizards being able to 'see' spells before." She watched him shrewdly. "You better not be making this up!"

Harry shot her an annoyed glance in turn, his brow furrowing in irritation. "Of course I'm not making it up. It's strange though. . . I've never seen anything like this before." A moment later he shrugged and decided to put the matter out of his mind for now. He would think on it later when he had time.

We'll worry about that later," He stated with a grin. "Right now, I want to practice some curses. Come on let's go!"

Tonks also grinned and grabbed onto his arm. "Oh, by the way there's going to be another Auror there called Alan Jackson." Seeing Harry's surprised look she shrugged defensively. "What, he wanted to come help pulverize you in a duel. Don't worry though, he's a good guy and he hates Fudge and the Ministry's guts."

Harry felt unsure. A lot of the Aurors that he had met would have chopped off their own hands if the Ministry told them too. Still, Tonks said he could be trusted and Harry did trust Tonks judgment (somewhat) so he shouldn't have anything to worry about.

"Alright. Fine. But I'll be the one doing the pulverizing!" Harry stated.

Tonks snorted in disbelief, before twisting about sharply on the spot and disapparating them both with a large crack.

They reappeared moments later on a large field. The grass was cut short and aside from a small shack about twenty meters to their left there were no trees or other obstacles anywhere near them. Harry looked around in interest, wondering where they were.

"This is an old Auror training spot," Tonks said as though she had read his mind. "It's not used anymore though. Still, there should be supplies in that cabin. Jackson's probably waiting in their too. Come on!"

Harry quickly followed Tonks as she began walking towards the small wooden building at a brisk pace. Quickly reaching the door, Tonks pulled it open and marched inside. Harry followed her in and had to stifle a gasp.

The inside of the cabin was nothing like what he had expected from looking at the outside. For starters, it was much bigger and seemed to have several rooms branching off to either side that certainly didn't exist from the outside. The room they were currently in was welcoming with a large fireplace and comfortable seats situated about. He also saw several desks and bookshelves with what looked like an assortment of dark detectors spread around. It looked like a large, comfortable lounge room, certainly not the type of thing he would expect of Aurors.

"Come on Harry, over here," Tonks said from beside the large fireplace. Harry glanced over, noticing for the first time that there was someone else in the room with them. It was a man, who looked to be in his early thirties. He had short blond hair, stood around 6 foot in height, was quite muscular, had blue eyes and wore pure white battle robes with the symbol of the Aurors emblazoned over his left breast. Harry figured that this must be the man that Tonks had spoken of: Alan Jackson.

Harry strode forward and extended his hand to shake. Jackson took it in a strong grip and shook firmly. "Mr. Potter, it is a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Likewise, sir," Harry responded politely, "I'm looking forward to seeing what an Auror can do in a duel."

Jackson let out a loud bark of laughter that reminded Harry momentarily of Sirius before he brushed those thoughts aside.

"You may be looking forward to it now, kid, but I doubt that you'll feel that way much longer." The smile that appeared on his face could only be described as sadistic.

Tonks slapped her fellow Auror on the arm, with a reprimanding scowl, before turning to Harry reassuringly. "Don't worry, Harry it's not going to be that bad. This idiot's just trying to scare you."

Despite Tonks words, Harry couldn't help feel a hint of nervousness when that grin stayed firmly pasted to Jackson's face.

"Harry, come on, before we start come through here," Tonks said, turning towards one of the side doors. At his questioning look, she grinned. "Equipment room," she explained succinctly.

Harry's face lit up and he hurried after Tonks into the room, with Jackson strolling behind them.

As he entered, his first impression of the room was _stinky._ The second was _cluttered. _He frantically waved a hand in front of his face, trying to get the cloud of dust out of his face, and failing miserably.

"Urgh, Tonks how old is this place?" Harry said in disgust. "It must be ancient."

To his right, Tonks was unable to answer due to the fact that she had entered a violent sneezing fit. Despite the less than brilliant situation he found himself in, he couldn't help but laugh at her. What with her flailing arms and desperately shrinking nose, she truly looked ridiculous.

Hearing a snort from behind, he glanced back to see Jackson watching Tonks in equal amusement. After watching for a second, the man took out his wand and pointed it at Tonks. Muttering a couple of words, Harry didn't catch, he waved the wand and a small blue light hit Tonks. Immediately, her sneezing stopped and Tonks didn't waste a moment before bolting from the room.

"Yeesh, cleaning charms next time, yeah?" She muttered, scrunching up her nose in disgust.

Harry and Jackson both agreed with nods and the three began shooting scourgify spells at every open surface in the room.

About five minutes and many cleaning and air freshening spells later, Harry bravely ventured back into the cluttered room. Now that he could actually see what he was looking at, he stared around in interest. Over in one corner, there were piles of robes and other clothing such as boots and gloves etc. In another there was a shelf with stacks of, surprisingly, old and rather beaten looking wands and next to those there was a small rack of blades and knives while scattered all over the floor of the room was everything from potions, to a broomstick or two.

"Wow," Harry commented in amusement, "You Aurors sure know how to decorate."

"Ha ha," Tonks responded sarcastically, walking up to stand beside them. "If you don't want anything then don't take anything, but it would be your loss."

Harry stared at her incredulously. "You mean that I can just take whatever I like? Isn't that, well, stealing?"

Jackson took that moment to join the conversation. "Does it look like any of this junk's going to use, kid? Besides it's the Ministry's equipment so who gives a crap?"

Harry thought about that for a moment, before realizing just how much sense that made. Who cares if the Ministry lost a few old pieces of equipment? Definitely not him. With that decided he grinned and dove into the piles with a clear conscience.

Thirty minutes later Harry emerged from the room a happy man. He had been correct about there being a few jewels hidden among the junk. In the end he had taken a pair of black dragonhide boots and gloves, with the gloves being fingerless and having an anti-summoning charm built in to them so that anything he held while wearing them could not be summoned. As well as a dragonhide vest to wear under his shirt and robes, a spare wand under Tonks and Jackson's advisement, and two wand holsters that he attached to each wrist with his wands securely held inside and only a flick of the wrist away from being drawn at any time. All in all a very satisfying birthday present.

"I like the gloves," Tonks commented, looking him up and down with approval, "green and black look good together and suits you well." She pointed at his left wrist. "How's the wand feel for you?"

"Not bad," Harry mused, flicking his second wand into his grasp, "It's the best suited to me out of all the wands in there, but it still doesn't feel quite right. You said the wood is yew? Do you know what the core is?" He asked Jackson, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed to Harry's right.

"The wood is yew," The blond man agreed with a nod, "But I don't have a clue what the core is. I'm no wand-maker." He shrugged. "In the end though, it doesn't really matter. It's just a backup after all, for if you get disarmed in a duel. Who cares what core it's got? As long as you can shoot curses with it, it's doing it's job." He rose from the wall and fixed Tonks and him with an irritated expression. "Now are we going to get to dueling? I'd say we've waited long enough."

Tonks grinned and nodded. "What do you say, Harry? You ready?"

"Definitely. Ready whenever you two are," Harry said confidently.

"Alright! We'll duel first, Harry! C'mon!" Tonks said in excitement, racing out the door to the open field outside. Harry and Jackson followed at a more steady pace, but both were just as excited. Harry because he would finally get to try out some of the curses he had been reading about.

Tonks came to a stop about thirty meters away from the house and turned to face Harry with her wand drawn. Harry smiled grimly and took a stance about ten meters away from her, also with his wand drawn. Jackson sat to the side away from them while raising a shield around himself just in case of poorly aimed spells.

"Wotcher Harry! I'm not going to go easy on you. No pain, no gain after all. So you'd better focus," Tonks called across to him.

Harry thought she sounded far too smug. She probably expected him to be a push-over. Well, to be honest, he hardly expected to win, but he would put up a decent fight at the very least. Remembering the dueling club from second year he gave Tonks a quick bow before assuming a dueling stance and waiting. With an amused quirk of her lips, Tonks returned his bow before quickly raising her wand and getting the duel started.

"_Caecus!" _

The inky black and purple spell sailed through the air and Harry twisted his body to the side, avoiding it by inches. His wand twirled in his grip coming to rest on Tonks as he wasted no time in retaliating.

"_Stupefy! Impedimenta!"_

"_Protego maximus!"_

Both of his spells were easily absorbed by the huge shield and Harry gritted his teeth in annoyance, while staying on the balls of his feet ready to dodge a curse at any moment.

"A stunner and an impediment jinx?" Tonks yelled mockingly. "Aren't those learned in second year? I thought you said that you wanted to try out some new curses?"

Harry didn't rise to the bait and continued to stare; waiting for the moment she would bring her shield down. He didn't want to waste his energy trying to batter it down, all though he was pretty sure he could if he wanted to.

With a small smile, she obliged him and they both attacked simultaneously.

"_Bombarda!" _

"_Percutio!" _

Surprisingly, Tonks looked fairly graceful as she nimbly danced to the side of his bombardment curse, but Harry unfortunately didn't react quickly enough.

Tonks sizzling blue spell struck him on the left shoulder blade and Harry screamed in agony as what felt like thousands of volts of electricity coursed through his body. While the pain didn't compare to the cruciatus it was still enough to bring him to his knees.

Suddenly, the pain stopped, and Harry shakily climbed to his feet. He quickly checked himself over and realized that while his muscles were still achy and his limbs slightly shook, he wasn't in too bad a shape.

He glared across at Tonks, who was watching him in amusement with her wand pointed unfalteringly in his direction.

"The electrocution curse," She said smugly, "Painful eh? Wana keep going?"

Harry decided to let his actions speak for themselves and let off a barrage of curses. "_Stupefy! Reducto! Proicio! Everbero! Praefoco!" _He screamed in quick succession. Tonks threw herself violently to the ground before rolling to the right, his curses sailing through empty air.

He growled while she stumbled back to her feet and raised her wand again.

"_Confundo! Ossus Infractum!" _Tonks yelled loudly.

"_Protego!" _Harry cried, throwing up the only shield charm that he had mastered. Tonks confundus charm crashed into his shield and was summarily absorbed, but the bone-breaker that followed it was too strong. Harry watched in horror as the borderline dark spell sliced straight through his weakened shield and struck him square in the ribs. Luckily, thanks to the dragonhide vest that Harry now wore beneath his clothes the damage wasn't what it could have been. But it wasn't enough to stop the spell completely. Harry gasped as a small cracking sound filled the air, and his left hand shot up to cover his stomach in a futile attempt to ease the pain.

Staggering backwards, Harry maintained his grip on his wand through sheer force of will, and though he knew at least one of his ribs had been broken, he wasn't quite ready to give up yet.

Across from him, Tonks lowered her wand and gave him a slightly concerned look. "Sorry about that one, Harry, I suppose it was a bit over the top. Here," she said, beginning to walk towards him, "I'll heal it for you."

Harry waved her back, raising his wand in a sweaty grasp to point in her direction. "You can heal me after the duel is over. You haven't beaten me yet," He wheezed in a raspy voice, thick with pain.

To their side, Jackson let out a bark of laughter. "That's the spirit kid! You give up when you're dead!"

Harry shot him an uncertain smile. Yikes! He was almost as crazy as mad-eye-Moody.

Tonks however, didn't seem to share Jackson's view on things. She stared at Harry incredulously. "Harry, when I said no pain no gain before, I didn't mean it quite this literally. Now don't be stupid, you can't possibly expect to win with a set of broken ribs!"

That sounded like a challenge. Determination flared up inside of him pushing the pain back, and his response to Tonks was a stunner fired at her face. She ducked at the last second and growled at him in annoyance. "Fine! Be stubborn! I'll just knock you out!"

"_Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!" _She cast angrily. Harry ducked the first one before raising a shield that just managed to block the other two, to his relief.

Lowering his barely existing shield, Harry winced as a fiery jolt of pain shot through his abdomen. He couldn't keep this up. He needed to end it now. But how? Suddenly, Harry grinned as a plan formed in his mind.

Tonks was looking at him, surprised that he'd managed to avoid being taken down by her stunners, even with a broken rib. Her hesitation was all the time that Harry needed. Squeezing his eyes shut, he raised his wand.

"_Candidus Luminarium!" _Harry yelled. An intense flash of incredibly bright light exploded from his wand tip and he heard Tonks shriek in surprise. Waiting for the light to fade, he opened his eyes to see Tonks backing away while blinking furiously, trying desperately to hold open her watery eyes, to no avail. Harry raised his wand to fire a stunner at her, but Tonks wouldn't go out that easily.

"_Solvo Lexus!" _Tonks screamed, waving her wand in a wide arc around her body. A large golden dome like shield erupted around her, protecting the young Auror while she regained her vision.

No matter. He had expected something like that. Time for the second part of his plan. Pointing his wand at himself, Harry cast the charm that he had been practicing almost non-stop for the last two weeks until he had it down perfectly. "_Misceo Mixtui Miscum!" _He muttered under his breath. Instantly, he felt the by-now familiar effects of the spell taking place. The feeling of an egg being broken over his head was hardly a pleasant one, but the Disillusionment charm was certainly worth the discomfort.

With one arm wrapped around his middle to hold his abdomen as still as possible, the now nearly invisible Harry slowly and as quietly as he could, began to circle around behind of the unsuspecting Auror. Once behind her, he crouched down as low as possible and waited for the right moment.

Even though he could not see her face, he knew the exact moment that Tonks regained her eyesight due to the shocked gasp that issued from her lips. Tonks spun around wildly, eyes searching everywhere for him but luckily they moved straight over where Harry crouched hidden. Unfortunately, despite her disorientation that blasted shield didn't come down. It surrounded her in a protective dome that Harry did not know if he could breach. Nevertheless, he realized that he didn't have a choice. Until she knew where he was that shield was there to stay.

As silently as possible, he began to charge a spell. He would only get one chance to breach Tonks shield and take her down before his location was disclosed. And if that happened, Harry had no doubt he would lose. He charged up one of the most powerful spells he knew: The bombardment curse.

When he felt that he had gathered enough power, he raised his wand-

"Found you!" Tonks yelled triumphantly, and Harry blinked in shock to see her with her shield dropping and staring straight at his camouflaged form. Staring straight at him and raising her wand. . .

They unleashed their spells at the same time.

"_Stupefy!"_

"_Bombarda!"_

A small red beam of light shot from Tonks wand and a massive White beam from Harry's. The two spells connected in mid-air in a flash of colours, before his powerful bombardment curse tore through the stunning spell and struck Tonks straight in the chest. She was lifted a good five feet in the air, before being hurled backwards and striking the ground in a heap.

"Huh," Harry mumbled, suddenly feeling slightly faint, "Guess I put a bit too much power in that Bombardment curse."

The sound of clapping drew his ears and he looked over to see Jackson watching him, looking seriously impressed. "That was one heck of a duel, kid! You actually managed to beat an Auror on your first try! And that last spell!" Jackson stared at him intently, making Harry feel slightly nervous. "You have some serious power!" He finally stated.

Harry managed a small grin. "Thank you," he said wearily, "But if you don't mind, I think Tonks and I could use a bit of healing."

Jackson snorted. "I'll say. Damn! You really did a number on Tonks over here." The Auror walked over to Tonks and nudged her side with his foot, receiving a groan for his troubles. "Well, at least she's still conscious." He nudged her again. "Just."

He grinned over at Harry, and Harry had the feeling that he had earned the man's complete respect. Chuckling weakly, Harry slowly walked towards the two of them as the man began casting healing and rejuvenating spells on Tonks. By the time he had reached them, Tonks was slowly shaking her head from side to side and rolling into a painful sitting position. When she spotted Harry, she scowled at him.

"Remind me never to duel you again," she muttered sulkily.

Harry rolled his eyes and replied in a mocking tone while Jackson stood up to heal his broken ribs. "Oh, is poor little Nymphadora hurt? Poor Nymphadora, it's tough being an Auror isn't it? All those horrible teenagers beating you up all the time?"

Tonks growled at him. She actually growled at him! Harry wasn't sure whether he should be cringing in fear, or laughing his head off. He settled for backing away slowly.

"Hmph. You deserve to be mocked, Tonks after losing a duel to a kid, who, I might add, hasn't even started his sixth year at Hogwarts yet," Jackson said scathingly. "You made a crucial error. You underestimated your opponent. The least you can do now, is accept defeat gracefully."

Tonks sighed in defeat, and nodded, before holding out her hand to Harry with a small smile. "He's right Harry, that was some impressive dueling. Where'd you learn the Disillusionment charm? Or that spell that blinded me? I didn't even know what that was!" She exclaimed.

Harry shrugged modestly. "I suppose I'm just a natural," he said seriously.

Tonks chuckled, and then in the blink of an eye, her expression turned to a scowl and she narrowed her eyes dangerously at him. "And one more thing," she hissed, "If you EVER call me Nymphadora again, you WON'T live to regret it. Do you understand?" She added darkly.

Harry blinked several times, staring at the death glare he was receiving and suddenly felt weary beyond belief. He needed a break.

"Oi kid, get over here, it's my turn to duel you now!"

Harry groaned.

**Authors note: **

**Whew! That was my longest one yet! Below is a list of the spells used in this chapter and what they actually are. I'll be adding that every time I introduce anymore new spells. And remember to review.**

**Caecus: Temporary blinding curse.**

**Bombarda: bombardment curse.**

**Percutio: electrocution curse.**

**Proicio: flinging hex.**

**Everbero: bludgeoning hex.**

**Praefoco: suffocation curse.**

**Ossus Infractum: bone breaking curse.**

**Candidus Luminarium: sunburst charm.**

**Solvo lexus: Powerful full body shield.**

**Misceo mixtui miscum: Disillusionment charm.**

**JordieFan**


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